In developing software applications and defining business methods, it is important to gather Requirements and generate models for data flow and for Processes. The technology used in accumulating and re-constructing information into a useful form is referred to as information engineering. Information engineering involves various techniques and tools, some of which are computer-based. Currently, a number of computer-based information engineering tools are available to help convert information into a model that better defines a business procedure, practice, or other Process. One model, a data flow model, shows how items of data are passed into and out of the Process or within the Process itself. Another model, a Process model, shows how Processes relate to each other and is often depicted in a decomposition diagram. A decomposition diagram shows a Parent Process together with the offspring Processes that together compose the Parent Process. In effect, the decomposition diagram reflects Processes in varying levels of detail. Information engineering tools can also furnish an output that shows how Components of a Process are related.
Oftentimes, Processes and data are to be used in the development of software applications. Creating software includes to initial stages. First, the developer gathers Requirements to determine what the software application should do. The second stage is the design of the software application once the needs and objectives are defined. The models and other output furnished by the information engineering tool are used by software developers in the first stage of application creation.
As demand for new software applications increases and as programmer productivity increases, the automating of software development becomes important. This has prompted software developers to employ Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools to increase productivity. Also, in this regard, developers have looked to existing computerized information engineering tools in the gathering of Requirements and data in the first stage of development.
Knowledgeware Application Development Workbench (ADW)* is one such tool. Knowledgeware's ADW includes an encyclopedia feature that is used to automatically generate data models and/or Processes models and depict them as diagrams or other useful outputs. CASE tools available from Bachman Information Systems, Inc. also provide an output that can be used in providing computer-generated models. FNT Application Development Workbench is a registered trademark of Knowledgeware Inc.
These and other existing computerized information engineering tools, however, provide for a single user to enter data according to a strict format. The user manually gathers Information; structures the Information into a format that the Knowledgeware ADW, Bachman tools, or other computerized information engineering tools understand; and enters it in that format. This conventional approach is normally time-consuming, inefficient, and requires the user who enters the information to be versed in the information engineering tool format. This conventional approach provides no coordinated, formal communication between the gathering of Requirements and data of the first development stage and the application design of the second stage. This can lead to successive re-writes and maintenance, which can add to the time for application development cycle time and which can result in applications that do not reflect complete and accurate Requirements.
In some instances, a "scribe" at a terminal listens to successive inputs proposed by a number of participants who are not at terminals. The "scribe" hears and enters data serially and must pay attention to make sure that he properly enters the inputs. The session can become lengthy and difficult to administer, especially as participants wait for the scribe to properly format the successive inputs.
In another environment, a number of participants sit at terminals and enter data simultaneously, anonymously and with limited interaction. The results are, in such instances, confidential and discarded when a session ends.
Moreover, no facility for providing data that can be modelled or exported to a computer-based information engineering tool for modelling is provided. Moreover, user names are not captured in such tools in order to maintain anonymity.